The tunnel continues for only about three meters before seeming to abruptly end, only a small hole suggesting that anything is further this way. The hole itself is just barely wide enough to fit my shoulders. To get through it I’d have to army crawl with my face in the dirt further than I can currently reach with my tendrils.
Not to mention it stinks. No ‘stinks’ doesn’t begin to cover it, it reeks with the most foul stench I’ve encountered in either of my short lives. And even better, it's the only way forward.
I could just leave… There’s nothing forcing me to complete the quest, right? Hmm…
Errrrg…
I… I’m not going to find another place with enemies this easy to hunt am I? I get the feeling that despite how I might feel about it, I’ve gotten incredibly lucky with this find. If I just turn around and leave I’ll end up with a challenge much worse than this.
Doesn’t mean I have to like it…
Crawling into the hole I involuntarily scrunch up my face. The smell is even worse up close. I begin slowly pulling myself forward into the constricting passage, the foul smell etching itself into my sinuses. The walls press against me and it almost feels as though the weight of all the dirt above me is sitting on my lungs as cold dread floods my system. Pushing through the discomfort I force myself onward, my tendrils leading the way.
The little tunnel seems to be a wide, steady spiral leading further down. The incline makes the whole thing that much more awkward and uncomfortable. I’m glad I’m not a very claustrophobic person, otherwise I think I would be on my third panic attack by now. Even so I’m definitely not enjoying this.
In fact, I hate this. I’d rather go back to running through the woods with a pack of dire wolves biting at my heels than spend another minute in here. Unfortunately it’s a bit late to change my mind.
The longest three minutes of my life later and finally I feel the tunnel widening up ahead. It’s hard to resist cheering in celebration. It’s only another few seconds before I manage to drag myself out and breathe a sigh of relief. The stench in the air still assaults my nose and the space is still cramped, barely allowing me to crawl on all fours but it’s still a definite improvement.
Moving forward I can feel slight tremors through the walls as something moves around somewhere up ahead. Whatever it is, I think it’s bigger than I am, which is a bit concerning. Hopefully it wasn’t a mistake to come down here. I really don’t want to crawl all the way back up anytime soon.
Following the tunnel around a slight bend the walls and ceiling rather abruptly fall away into a much larger space. I can hear the thudding now as well as feeling it through the floor. Reaching into the chamber I can’t immediately find the source of the noise so I quietly move closer to the opening and carefully sweep my tendrils through the room.
The space is larger than I’d normally expect for an underground chamber composed entirely of dirt but normally I’d have eyes so I’ll just move past that I guess. The more concerning thing is that it’s large enough that I can’t just hide in the tunnel while my tendrils scope it out. To make a bad thing worse the thing has stopped its noisy pacing so I have no clue where it is right now. Great, just great.
Just as I step out into the chamber, alarm bells ring in my head and I quickly turn to the left. A spear intended for my side scrapes against the armor over my abdomen. The impact sends me stumbling back away from the tunnel. Lashing out, I rip the spear out of the rat’s grip with one tendril while the other wraps around its neck a use of rend tearing away fur and flesh.
[You have defeated a level 1 pitiful monstrosity young ratfolk, you’ve gained exp.]
[Heightened instincts has reached level 2]
The sound of thudding paws is suddenly all too close for comfort and I dive away just before something slams into the ground where I was a moment before. Claws slam into my back as I try to stand, clanging loudly against my armor and sending me flying. I crash into the ground and roll to a stop. I whip my tendrils towards the thing and rip away at the meaty foreleg that intercepted them.
The thing tears itself away from me a little too late, leaving the limb behind with a sickening, wet pop. Screaming in pain and rage, it suddenly grabs hold of my tendrils and pulls with all its might. It swings me through the air then releases me to slam heavily into a wall. All the air is expelled from my lungs and despite my desperate attempts they refuse to reinflate.
My head is spinning as I slump down to the ground and curl into a ball. I can hear the thing stumbling closer but I can’t convince my limbs to move. My tendrils flop helplessly on the floor and my lungs burn as I struggle to breathe.
Finally with a short coughing fit I’m able to draw a few short breaths. As quickly as I can manage I start dragging myself along the wall, back towards where I think the entrance was. My hand lands on a wooden handle just as clawed fingers wrap around my neck and my breath is stolen away once again. I hold onto it tightly as I’m lifted off the ground.
The thing growls close to my face, hot saliva flicking onto my skin. My head is spinning and my limbs feel weighed down but I manage to hang on to the spear. Claws dig into the back of my neck as it begins tightening its grip.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
With a silent prayer that the sharp end is pointed the right way, I grip it in both hands and thrust forward with every ounce of my fading strength. Letting out another primal scream of pain, the thing lets go of my neck and I drop back to the ground. The spear comes with me bringing a flood of blood and viscera alongside it.
I do my best to scramble away while gulping down shuddering gasps of air. Before I can get very far I hear a loud thud from behind me. Standing up, I turn around on shaky legs and gingerly poke around with my tendrils until I find the thing. It’s fallen on its front breathing heavily as blood pours from its arm and chest.
Ha…haha…HA, I WIN YOU GRIMY RAT. Oooww. Ok gloating can wait. I think I’m down to one health again. Carefully avoiding the still snapping jaws I wrap a tendril around the things neck and finish the job with a couple uses of rend.
[Rend has reached level 3]
[You have defeated a level 6 pitiful monstrosity adult ratfolk floor boss, you’ve gained exp.]
[You’ve reached level 4! Skill selection available]
Awesome.
Before I can even consider finding a nice spot to hide I notice I’m already falling backwards. I’m gonna go ahead and pass out now.
I wake up with a painful jolt and a groan. I feel like I lost a fight with a steamroller. Checking my surroundings nothing seems to have changed, the giant rat is still lying on the ground nearby and after ‘looking’ around for a minute I find the discarded arm and the other rat. Time for the feast I guess… yay… blegh…
[You have consumed a new creature. You’ve gained 1 bio point]
[You have gained 1 bio point]
[You have gained 1 bio point]
[You have gained 1 bio point]
[You have gained 1 bio point]
[You have gained 1 bio point]
I honestly have no idea how I managed to eat all that but I got four whole points from the big guy plus the new creature bonus! What a bounty! And that’s the end of the quest too, right system lady?
…right system lady?
Flarps.
Which way is which anyway? I got really turned around during the fight. After feeling around the walls for a bit I find a passage that’s too big to be the one I came in from. I only make it a few steps into the tunnel before I notice a strange vibration in the walls. It feels like… a heartbeat?
It only gets stronger as I continue moving closer. Following the vibrations I come to another chamber, smaller than the last but still sizable. As far as I can tell it’s completely empty except for an earthen pillar at the center. At the midpoint of the pillar between the ceiling and the floor a small spherical stone sits embedded in the dirt.
The heartbeat quickens as I reach forward to grab it. The whole chamber trembles slightly as I pull it out of the pillar.
[Young dungeon core, ratfolk specialization, would you like to absorb or deconstruct?]
It’s just like with the essence shard. I guess I’ll have to figure out what absorb does eventually right? What’s the worst that could happen? Absorb it.
[Dungeon core absorbed, skill selection available]
[You have completed the quest ‘Dungeon Slayer’ gained exp.]
[You’ve reached level 5! Skill selection available, evolution available]
Hooold on. WHAT? I can EVOLVE?!
[Would you like to open the evolution menu?]
YES!
[Available evolutions;
Adult nightmare
Young roaming core
Develop core heart]
Okay, wait, slow down there system lady. I’m going to need you to explain. The first option is pretty self explanatory but roaming core? Core heart? What are these?
[Adult nightmare, +5 strength, +5 agility, +5 constitution. Grow into an adult version of your current race]
[Young roaming core, night-kin specialized, +20 intelligence, +15 will. Lose body parts; arms, legs, ears, nose, claws, skin, bones. New boy parts; shadow flesh, command aura organ, free organ choice]
[Remain at current evolution tier and develop core heart. Increases mana capacity and allows for growth to higher monster ranks]
Okay, so, basically… I could become something similar to a dungeon core except, mobile? Would creating monsters become my primary ability? And what does it mean ‘lose body parts’? Would I become a little ball of darkness and death or something?
Honestly, it sounds like it could be awesome but I don’t think that’s the right path for me. Don’t get me wrong being less human looking is a goal. If you’re going to be a monster why try to look human? What fun is that? But it quite simply comes down to one small issue. I would prefer to keep all the senses I still have.
Losing my sight was one thing, I think I’m adjusting rather well, if I do say so myself, but I like being able to hear things coming. I guess I could do without a sense of smell if all dungeons are going to smell this bad…
Skipping past the adult option for the moment, the core heart option is tempting. Giving up short term gain for long term growth doesn’t seem like a bad choice. After all, the dire wolves were only lesser monsters, probably only one rank over pitiful, but it definitely seems like they’re exponentially stronger than the creatures a single rank below them. So being able to jump the gap to a higher rank might turn out to be a huge benefit.
There’s a possibility I could pick up this option at my next evolution but there are two problems with that. First off, I don’t know if that’s the case, this could be my only chance to acquire this. Secondly, even if I can pick it later, I wouldn’t be able to progress toward a higher rank until after I evolve again, which might require I get to level ten or level fifty, I just don’t know and it seems like too big a risk.
Alright, I think I’ve made up my mind. The improved stats would definitely be a huge help but it will have to wait.
[Begin evolution?]
Yeah, let’s do it!
Ah, oh boy, here we go.
As soon I confirm it, I’m hit with a wave of dizziness as my senses fade away and I begin falling over.